Fredia Hurdle, who along with her partner Lynn was one of the plaintiff's in Pennsylvania's marriage equality lawsuit, passed away on Thursday from a stroke. The couple had not yet legally married, though marriage equality passed in the state in May.

Not quite three months ago, Fredia and Lynn Hurdle were celebrating. Suddenly, they lived in a state where gay marriage was legal, and they had helped to make it so.

The Hurdles of Crafton Heights were among the plaintiffs in a case that went before a federal judge in Harrisburg. In May, the judge ruled that Pennsylvania's gay marriage ban was unconstitutional.

The ruling meant that the Hurdles, who were together for 24 years, who were united in a commitment ceremony five years ago, and who had supported each other through sickness and child-rearing, could have their union recognized by the state they considered home.

Maybe they could get officially married in July, Lynn Hurdle thought, to mark the fifth anniversary of their original wedding ceremony. But her daughter planned to marry in October, and Fredia Hurdle said they should wait until after her wedding. It was her year, her “moment in the sun,” she told the woman she had long considered her wife.

“It's legal. We have time,” she said.

But Thursday, Fredia Hurdle died from a stroke. She was 50 years old.

“I was looking for the next 25 or 50 years together,” Lynn Hurdle said. “It's been shell shock.”